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DAVID HAFFENREFFER, CNNfn ANCHOR, MONEY & MARKETS: Well, you
probably don't have to worry about the FBI starting a file on you
or your nosy neighbor peering in your window. Nowadays it's your
boss who's keeping a very close eye on you. Some of the nation's
largest companies were ranked on how closely they watch their employees
in the October issue of "Wired" magazine. IBM was judged the least
likely to pry, but whichcompany was ranked as the most intrusive?
Joining us now from San Francisco to answer the question is "Wired"'s
senior editor Mark Robinson. Welcome to the program.
MARK ROBINSON, "WIRED": Thanks for having me.
HAFFENREFFER: All right. So what company is the most nosy?
ROBINSON: Well, we ranked Eli Lilly (Company: Eli Lilly & Company;
Ticker: LLY; URL: http://www.lilly.com)
as number one, closely followed by Wal-Mart (Company: Wal-Mart Stores
Inc.; Ticker: WMT; URL: http://www.wal-mart.com).
HAFFENREFFER: And what are they doing that grabbed your attention?
ROBINSON: Well, it's interesting. You know, all of the companies
that we ranked in this sort of rogue's gallery of companies that
don't respect privacy are really stepping over a line, a line that
is pretty low to begin with. Companies have the right to monitor
their workers and they're taking that right. Eli Lilly, especially
after 9/11 started doing background checks, extensive background
checks, some back to fourth grade.
HAFFENREFFER: All right. So that's pretty surprising. Other cases
that I see here in the rundown include "The New York Times," which
is requiring doctors to disclose employee medical records. Obviously,
this is a legal right for the company to do this, is it not?
ROBINSON: That was an interesting case. There was a "New York Times"
doctor who refused to turn over what she thought were confidential
medical records. She ended up losing her job and she sued.
HAFFENREFFER: And as far as what the legal rights are for corporations
to monitor their employees, they're pretty much it's fair game,
isn't it?
ROBINSON: It is. You know, employers have the right and they've
gone to court and won this right in many cases to monitor e-mail,
to monitor web usage, to monitor voice mail. Now there's technology
that can monitor instant messaging. And what's interesting about
this is it's really increased over the last three, four years. These
software packages that allow companies to monitor every keystroke
have really been taken up by corporate America, especially the larger
companies. The bigger the company, the more likely it is that they're
doing this kind of monitoring.
HAFFENREFFER: All right. Topping the best list, which we talked
about on the way in here was IBM. Tell me a little bit about what
they're doing and why they get this ranking.
ROBINSON: Well, I think all of the companies on this—our sort
of top five list, this list of privacy heroes, you might say, have
taken it upon themselves to protect employee privacy as a matter
of policy. They've established policies and that's one of the things
that we're lauding IBM for doing is they have a very good policy
on protecting worker privacy and it extends all the way to their
health care partners. They insist that their health care partners
take part in this.
HAFFENREFFER: What does the policy look like? Is it just the company
saying OK, you're allowed to do XYZ on the computer in any given
day and nothing more and watch your personal calls or how do they
outline the policy?
ROBINSON: You know, that's part of it, is laying out what you can
and cannot do. And just having that policy is—you know, puts
them a cut above the rest. In the case of HP (Company: Hewlett-Packard
Company; Ticker: HPQ; URL: http//www.hp.com),
which is the number two company, it sort of extends throughout the
culture and it even—they even go so far as to have a sort of
group of managers who are designated as the keepers of private information.
And if you want to join that group, you have to have special training
and the employees know that there is this feeling of respect and
I think that's probably good for business.
HAFFENREFFER: Others on the top five best list include Ford, Baxter
Healthcare and Sears. Mark Robinson, thanks for being with us.
ROBINSON: I enjoyed it. Thanks.
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